Grimaud has been one of my favorite pianist for a long time. It all started with her Beethoven 5th Piano Concerto, then I fell in love with her Brahms Sonatas and Debussy, and last semester, when I played Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato, I adored her interpretation the most. Her seriousness and respect for modern pieces really stand out—unlike some pianists who treat contemporary works carelessly. This was my first time hearing her live, and she was playing French repertoire—Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major. I was beyond excited!

My chamber music teacher once said, “You know, as a pianist, you are hated by the string players—yes, HATED—because the piano sounds so different from strings.” But this performance was the only time I’ve ever felt the piano and orchestra were so intimately connected, as if they were whispering sweet nothings to each other. The dynamics, tone control, fluidity, and clarity were all otherworldly.

The first half featured Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1—what a stunner! An unexpected delight, especially since I didn’t prepare by listening beforehand. I’m generally not a huge fan of Shostakovich’s music, so I didn’t have high hopes. But Sayaka Shoji (庄司纱矢香) was made for this piece! Honestly, I’d never heard of her before (to be fair, her name and photo weren’t even on the SFS program—ironically fitting for the shadowy, introspective mood of this concerto).

It wasn’t until last week that I realized it was a multi-sensory event, featuring both lighting and scent design! The scent was created by a Cartier perfumer, which made me feel a bit guilty since I know absolutely nothing about Cartier fragrances.

Orfeo ed Euridice was Gluck’s first major reform of Italian opera and marks the second significant reform in opera history (the first being around 1700 by Metastasio, which is a bit too early to dive into here). It is Gluck’s most famous opera, and its final act’s intense struggles influenced many later masterpieces, such as Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and the first part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Before Gluck’s reforms, Italian opera primarily catered to royalty and aristocrats, so overtures (Sinfonia) often served as background music while audiences settled into their seats and were often unrelated to the opera itself. Vocalists dominated, with plenty of flashy, virtuosic embellishments that often muddled the meaning of the music—singers would even add ornaments mid-word to show off their skills! Composers, in contrast, were relatively low on the hierarchy.